Odds and Ends
On Friday 16 March we had a bit of a meltdown at work. We’d discovered that the newest lady at our work (who I never liked anyway) had been starting work on the side for another company, a cruise wholesaler, but using our time and resources to set up customer information evenings etc for the other company. Needless to say, she was out the door. Needless to say, work was crazy :S
At least it was Friday, Tha Boyz were playing at Friday’s and I headed down on my own. Before I did that, I went to Mooloolaba beach, running into Oli on the way past Monty’s. It wasn’t much of a convo, never is with him, but he invited us girls to the boys’ house the next night (not that it’s his place to!) because it was Snowboarder’s birthday. They weren’t going out to celebrate because Snowboarder couldn’t really move after his knee operation, therefore the drinks were at the house. I replied that we were doing something at Miss Mauritius’ house early on but we had no idea what was happening after.
I kept on to the beach. After a little while I walked back, running into Dreadlocks Jnr on the way past Monty’s, who repeated the invitation. I repeated my reply.
It was a good night at Friday’s with Ms NZ and a couple of her friends. Drummer Man and I were right back in sync. At midnight I smsd Country Boy to wish him a happy birthday - he was playing the Brunswick with Red that night. At about 2:15AM I bid farewell to Drummer Man, saying I had a big weekend ahead so it was best if I got some sleep. Drummer Man replied (not the first time he’d said it that night) “Yeah of course you have a big weekend, you’re coming to Brisbane tomorrow to spend the day with us and again on Sunday”. I just laughed and said “Sure … have a great weekend!” Lol.
Sat 17 March - St Patrick’s Day and Country Boy’s 23rd birthday. I slept in in the morning, then headed to DemonDancer and Mr IT’s for lunch and an afternoon of watching “Heroes” with them and Yaris. Not sure what I think of that show, it’s odd. I left at 5pmish to get ready for drinks at Miss Mauritius’s … Miss Mauritius picked me up at 8PM and Miss Vegan, Miss Malta and InYerFace joined us. I had mentioned to Miss Mauritius about the house party at the boys’ but didn’t want to bring it up unless Miss Vegan did. She’d been acting quite strange about the girls heading out with the boys since the weekend when Miss Teacher was back and we ended up at the boys’ house. We couldn’t decide what we wanted to do becuase both Miss Malta and InYerFace were sober and not going out. Miss Vegan didn’t bring up the house party. When Miss Mauritius went to the bathroom. I brought it up and Miss Vegan quite forcefully said that we were not going to the house party, mainly cos of Snowboarder - they’re trying to keep Miss Mauritius away from him because he doesn’t like her in any honourable way and they don’t want Miss Mauritius to get hurt. That angered me slightly, I could understand the reasoning, but it wasn’t really up to them. Snowboarder should grow some balls and tell her himself. I think it was also a way to keep me from Oli, cos Miss Vegan doesn’t like him. But it’s my decision. I know what I’m doing with him. They’re blaming him for the debacle a couple of weeks ago when we headed back to the boys’ place with Miss Teacher. That really peeved me - it wasn’t Oli’s fault. Snowboarder was as much to blame, and the major reason we went there was because Miss Teacher was hooking up with Dreadlocks Snr. Quite honestly, it was all of our faults. As it was, Oli kept saying that night that he didn’t want to stay there and we should go - he’d slept on those couches enough and should go home - it was literally stumbling distance away. He was saying that before anyone got fired up. I couldn’t say any of that becuase I didn’t think Miss Vegan knew about Dreadlocks Snr, and I couldn’t say it in front of InYerFace (there’s an issue there between Miss Teacher and InYerFace about Dreadlocks Snr). But I’m not happy with Oli getting the blame either. Oli’s obviously not saying anything, if he realises it at all, but now it’s getting petty.
Anyway, the night ended early, we were literally all dressed up with nowhere to go.
Sunday 18 March … I got up fairly early because of early night the night before. Whirlwind, an old family friend of ours, came over for lunch, and then I headed to Country Boy’s birthday party down at the bbq area at Mooloolaba Esplanade. I couldn’t get the card I wanted to get him because the newsagency at the Big Flop was closed and none of the other newsagencies had that card - all the others in the range - but not that one. So I had to settle with a different one. I also gave him a $10 scratchie. I didn’t get there til 3:30PM by the time I ran around the Plaza as well … when I got there it was just Country Boy, his parents, his mum’s new bf, his sister and a mate. I thought it a bit odd but hey. I said I was going to the bottlo to get some drinks and he said he was heading up there soon. I said ok, I was gonna go then, I didn’t realise he was following me. He walked in 10 seconds after I did. As we walked back he explained who was there and said it should have been awkward because of his mother’s new boyfriend, but it surprisingly wasn’t. He introduced me around (he hadn’t before) and I got the distinct impression they all thought I was the girl in Country Boy’s life. Which concerned me a bit lol. They were all very friendly and asking about me and getting to know me. His dad especially was really funny, and his sister was cool. We sat down to the bbq lunch, which I politely declined, I had my Southern Comfort lol. I couldn’t eat any of it anyway - sausages and chicken kebabs, creamy salads etc. His mate didn’t eat either … it was late after all.
After lunch, Country Boy and his sister went for a swim (he’s got chest hair in the oddest little spots lol), so I sat with his dad and his mate (his mum and her boyfriend had left already). Country Boy’s dad told me an anecdote about when he and Country Boy played a gig and Country Boy had to beat the girls off with a stick. I smiled. He then asked me why the girls loved the musos and why they hung around the stage. “Alcohol”, was my reply, along with a laugh. He laughed too, stating that I was great. Uhoh.
The next day was my guitar lesson after work. He told me why I was having trouble handling barre chords - it wasn’t just the complete lack of strength in my fingers - I needed to get the action lowered on my guitar (the action is the distance of the strings from the fret board). They were so far away, even he had trouble with barre chords!
He said his dad had made an offer on a house in Chancellor Park for Country Boy to live in - did I want to move in with him? Huh? I jokingly replied that I was pretty good with mum, cheap and easy. He asked how things were going with her. I said, “As good as a 25 year old woman can have living with her mother. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult”. As I was saying “sometimes”, he finished my sentence with, ‘you have to do your own thing’. I smiled and said, “Not as an Italian woman, I leave the family home and move into the married home”. Then I laughed, hoping he didn’t think I was suggesting he propose LOL.
He was noting songs he had to learn so I reminded him of Mr Big’s ‘To Be With You’. He asked if I was going to his gig at Vibes on Wednesday night? I replied that I was thinking I would, if that was cool. He said, “Yeah, cos I think I’ve got Mr Big sussed”. No way I couldn’t go now lol.
I went home and took the old strings off my guitar, removed the saddle - only to find it couldn’t be adjusted the way Country Boy had suggested. He was online so I shared my frustration. I restrung my guitar, watched Ally McBeal and went to bed.
The next day, Tuesday, I took the guitar to music shop to see what they could do. They said a set-up would take a week and cost $80. alternatively, they could shave down the saddle in the shop and it would only take a day or two and $30. I went with that.
That afternoon I had coffee at Habits in Cotton Tree with DemonDancer, Mr IT, Yaris, Product Boy, Yaris, HairDresser, Asian Beauty and Lime. It was fairly uneventful, but we did notice that the owner of Habits is a real winker, can’t get much blokier. It was quite amusing. He’s now Mr Winky lol.
My guitar wasn’t ready on Wednesday, which was fine. That night I went to watch Country Boy at Vibes … oh my it was dead. When I walked in he was sitting with two guys - that he didn’t introduce me to so I went and got a wine as he got up to play.
I sat on my own in the middle of the room at a stool with my wine. I was watching Heroes on silent on the big screen to my left so that I wasn’t looking at him all the time.
He’s good but his voice seems fake, nowhere near as strong as Mr Musician’s or Drummer Man’s. And he very much has his own variation on songs and own arrangements, so it’s interesting.
He sang “Save Tonight” by Eagle Eye Cherry and oh my Lord, I didn’t know where to look. I love Drummer Man’s version but Country Boy’s really rivals it. He starts it very slow, sultry and suggestively, speeding it up a little in the second verse, but not much. He sang the first bit while looking straight at me, which freaked me out.
While he was singing, I noticed that his mum, her boyfriend and a couple of their friends came in, but I didn’t turn around, just kept to myself. When Country Boy came down for his first break, he told me his mum was there - they were sitting behind me. I feigned surprise lol. She said that they thought it was me, but not sure - they had been sitting there trying to figure out ingenious ways to check if it was me - I laughed and suggested they could have just said “Hi Frangelica” lol. They continued to suss me out after Country Boy went back on stage, which I thought was funny. I guess it would have looked weird, me just sitting there on my own, but that’s mostly because none of my friends are really interested and they all don’t go out on school nights lol (and him singing the likes of “Save Tonight”, “Moondance”, “To Be With You” at me wouldn’t have helped either).